After ending his first season in Bloomington in disappointing fashion, Darian DeVries knew he had to attack the transfer portal in a different way than he did last offseason. Instead of targeting experienced all-league mid-major players, DeVries changed his approach to focus on players with multiple years of experience at the high-major level.
He also knew he needed to build up Indiana's frontcourt. The Hoosiers lacked size, physicality, and athleticism at the 4 and 5 positions this past season, which is not a great recipe for success in the Big Ten.
Last month, DeVries addressed both of those issues by bringing in power forward Aiden Sherrell from Alabama and center Samet Yigitoglu from SMU. Those additions give Indiana the frontcourt size and physicality it desperately lacked last season.
But how does DeVries plan to utilize his two new frontcourt stars? In short, as much as possible
Aiden Sherrell and Samet Yigitoglu will both see plenty of minutes in 2026
DeVries was in attendance at Indiana Football's National Championship event in Carmel on Thursday night, and he took some time to speak with reporters about Indiana's portal additions and how the offseason has been going.
When speaking about the frontcourt, DeVries made it clear that both Sherrell and Yigitoglu will be on the floor at the same time as much as possible.
"We'd love to play them together, and that will be what we'll start out the summer doing and seeing how that plays out," DeVries said. "The more we can have both those guys out there, the better."
DeVries then bragged on Sherrell's well-rounded skill set helping to space the floor before re-emphasizing the plan to play both Sherrell and Yigitoglu together as much as possible.
"From a lot of different areas from the rebounding aspect to what we're able to do with their pure size...Having both of them out there is something that we're looking forward to doing," said DeVries.
Indiana basketball coach Darian DeVries on his plan for Aiden Sherrell and Samet Yigitoglu: "We'd love to play them together and that will be what we'll start out the summer doing and seeing how that plays out." pic.twitter.com/sx4Jq9a7qN
— Michael Niziolek (@michaelniziolek) May 15, 2026
The frontcourt combination of Sherrell and Yigitoglu has Indiana fans fired up
When the offseason began, the biggest need at the top of DeVries' transfer portal wish list was a true center. By landing Yigitoglu, that's exactly what he's found.
The SMU center was one of the most coveted big men in the portal, coming in as the No. 7 center and No. 37 overall player on the market according to 247Sports. This past season, the 7'2" center averaged 10.7 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game while shooting a strong 62.8% from the floor over the course of 29 games with the Mustangs.
Along with finding a true center, DeVries needed to bolster the frontcourt as much as possible. IU finished the regular season ranked 13th in the Big Ten with 32.4 total rebounds per game, and was horrendous on the offensive glass. Specifically, IU was dead last in the Big Ten by averaging 8.2 offensive rebounds per game.
Indiana also lacked a strong rim protector, but the addition of Sherrell helps fill that void. The 6'11" power forward was second in the SEC with 2.3 blocks per game this past season. That is a huge lift for the Hoosiers, as they averaged just 2.7 blocks per game as a team.
All in all, Hoosier fans have a lot to be fired up about when it comes to Indiana's frontcourt next season. Heading into Year 2 of the DeVries era, having both Sherrell and Yigitoglu on the floor at the same time as much as possible has the potential to produce great results in 2026.
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